Malaysian football naturalisation scandal

In September 2025, FIFA disciplinary committee imposed fines and suspensions on seven players who played for the Malaysia national football team. The world governing body alleged that the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) provided forged documents for seven foreign-born players who later played for the Malaysia national football team.^[1] FAM denied wrongdoing and appealed the sanctions. On 3 November, the FIFA Appeal Committee rejected Malaysia's appeal.^[2]

In 2018, the Malaysia national football team dropped to 178th place in the FIFA rankings, its lowest ever ranking.^[3] This prompted the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) to begin scouting for "heritage players" or players of foreign origin who are asked to change their sporting nationality to play for the national team either through residency or Malaysian ancestry.^[4]

Between 2018 and October 2025, 23 foreign-born footballers were granted Malaysian citizenship.^[4][5]

In January 2025, the Crown Prince of Johor Tunku Ismail Sultan Ibrahim announced that six to seven "heritage players" had been identified for possible inclusion in the national football team. He expressed hope that the Malaysian government would assist them in obtaining Malaysian passports to enable their participation in the 2027 AFC Asian Cup qualifiers.

Tunku Ismail also owns Johor Darul Ta'zim F.C. (JDT), a club he heavily financed to assert dominance over Malaysian domestic football for more than a decade.^[3] From March to June 2025, FAM processed the FIFA eligibility for seven players by submitting their birth certificates as well as those of their grandparents. FIFA cleared the players, who were ruled eligible to play for the Malaysian national team.^[3][6]

The seven players were:

All featured in Malaysia's 4–0 win against Vietnam in the 2027 AFC Asian Cup qualifiers third round Group F match on 10 June 2025; additionally, Hector Hevel also featured in the earlier 2–0 win over Nepal in the very same qualifiers. These players were also involved in three FIFA friendly matches.^[4]

FIFA received an anonymous complaint a day after the Vietnam game, disputing the eligibility of the seven players.^[7] In August 2025, FIFA opened disciplinary proceedings against FAM. This action was not known to the general public.^[3]

On 26 September, FIFA imposed a fine of CHF 350,000 (approximately RM 1.9 million) on FAM, while the seven players received individual fines of CHF 2,000 (about RM 10,560) and a 12-month suspension from all football-related activities.^[8] This was when the scandal became publicly known.^[3]

FIFA released an official report on 6 October detailing falsifications concerning the players' eligibility, including the alleged birthplaces of their grandparents. While FAM claimed that the seven players had grandparents born in Malaysia, FIFA discovered that their grandparents had in fact been born in Argentina, Brazil, Spain and the Netherlands.^[9][10]

Additionally, FIFA expanded its investigation to determine if this was systemic amongst other naturalisations: if proven, Malaysia's wins against Nepal and Vietnam could potentially be overturned into two automatic 3–0 losses.^[11]

On 3 November, FIFA dismissed FAM's appeal, with FAM immediately announcing that it would bring the case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.^[12] On 18 November, FIFA officially opened a criminal investigation, which will also involve the authorities and respective federations of Brazil, Spain, the Netherlands and Argentina, to investigate the forged documents.^[13][14]

On 9 January 2026, CAS announced it would schedule hearing date in order to investigate the case, which involved representatives of Malaysia, as well as related parties like Spain, Brazil, Argentina and the Netherlands, whose citizens are involved in the scandal.^[15] On 27 January 2026, however, CAS granted temporary suspension of FIFA ban for all seven players involved in the scheme, but noting that it does not mean the verdict has been issued; CAS will make the final decision, meaning the scandal effectively remains under investigation.^[16] The first hearing came on 27 February, but a day later, the intended day for the verdict, CAS had unexpectedly delayed the announcement of final verdict for a week as they sought to collect further evidences before making the final announcement; additionally, relatives of the seven players might be soon invited to address the concerns and to verify wherever the files were legitimate or deliberately doctored by FAM.^[17][18]

On 5 March, CAS dismissed FAM's appeal, while slightly eased the punishments against the players.^[19] FAM announced that it respects the Court's decision and admitted its own "responsibility for oversight failures", however also considered the given sanctions to be "disproportionate, particularly when compared to sanctions imposed in similar cases", and was looking forward to examine the full Award to be issued in due course by the respective authority.^[20]

Following the announcement of the verdict, the Asian Football Confederation announced it would conduct an investigation on FAM, and will issue a verdict in an undeclared date, under the supervision of FIFA and CAS.^[21]

As a result of the scandal, FIFA overturned the results of three friendlies of Malaysia against Cape Verde, Singapore and Palestine into 0–3 defeats.^[22] Following the March 2026 case dismissal from CAS, AFC also similarly overturned the results of the two qualification matches of Malaysia against Nepal and Vietnam into 0–3 defeats.^[23] This effectively eliminated Malaysia and eventually qualified Vietnam for the 2027 tournament, disregarding the result of the final match between the two, which was scheduled at Thiên Trường exactly two weeks later.

The scandal put FAM as well as the Ministry of Home Affairs and the National Registration Department (NRD), the government agencies responsible for handling Malaysian citizenship, under scrutiny from Malaysian football fans and legislators.^[24][25] FAM acknowledged "technical errors" on the document submissions, but maintained that the seven players are Malaysian citizens.^[26]

Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said that the issue was regarding the seven players' compliance under FIFA eligibility rules, rather than their citizenship, adding that birth certificates are not required for naturalisation under Malaysia's Constitution, and maintained that the players satisfied the prerequisites required to obtain citizenship, which includes good conduct, the required residency period, and Malaysian Malay proficiency using ministerial discretion on residency requirements.^[25][27]

Tunku Ismail and former sports minister Khairy Jamaluddin questioned the FIFA sanctions. Tunku Ismail alleged that an external party might have influenced the world football body. Both questioned FIFA's apparent reversal since the seven players were previously cleared to play.^[26] The NRD denied involvement in the alleged falsification of documents.^[28]

On 17 October 2025, the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) held a press conference to address about the forged documents issues. However the conference was met with criticism from Malaysian media and supporters.

The association’s deputy president, S. Sivasundaram, announced the immediate suspension of secretary-general Noor Azman Rahman but dodged key questions about accountability and verifications. The officials refused to elaborate on the players’ background or timeline of document submissions, document verification procedures, citing the pending appeal as they considered answering those questions will interfere appeal process.

FAM also declined to identify the agents responsible for handling the players’ documentation, stating instead that internal investigations were still ongoing and claimed they are not the one who handled the documentation, as they were simply received the documents from JPN.

The association characterised the issue as an administrative error and maintained that the players were unaware of any wrongdoing, a position that drew scrutiny given FIFA’s subsequent findings of document falsification.

Commentators also criticised the press conference for failing to provide a clear timeline for corrective action or to assign accountability within the association. For many observers, the event symbolised the collapse of communication discipline at a time it was needed most. As one journalist who attended put it, the five officials who faced the media “clearly were not prepared”, and looked like “they hadn’t even spoken to each other before walking into the room.”^[29]

On 20 December 2025, FAM stated they will lodge a police report on the alleged falsification of citizenship documents linked to seven “heritage” players under the national team.

Addressed during the press conference, FAM acting president Yusoff Mahadi said the association’s executive committee had agreed to file the report in line with the recommendation made by an Independent Investigation Committee (IIC) formed to probe the matter.^[30]

The IIC was formed by FAM to investigate the problem within the falsification scandal. IIC published a 58 pages report open to public, where it is stated that they are unable to find the individual who is responsible nor the player agents, but also noted that FAM must held responsible for the serious flaw within the administation process.

However FAM decided to immediately remove the IIC report from its official website shortly after it was published, stating that the move was necessary to protect the integrity of ongoing proceedings at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

Yusoff Mahadi acknowledged that the association may have misjudged the timing of the publication, as it coincided with critical submission processes involving FAM’s legal representatives at CAS concerning a high-profile document falsification issue.

He provided assurance that the removal is not permanent and should not be interpreted as secrecy or reluctance to disclose information. Instead, he reiterated that the report will be reinstated after legal counsel confirms that its publication will not interfere with arbitration processes.^[31]

Publicly, the Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) made neutral statements regarding the issue, which were largely translations and representations from press releases with minimal to no speculations on the probability that the Vietnamese team's defeat could be overturned, while the All Nepal Football Association reportedly requested FIFA to nullify their previous 2–0 defeat to Malaysia by filing the same compliant.^[32][33]

Vietnamese media consistently claimed that the VFF did not formally file the complaint, citing internal and anonymous sources, contradicting various Malaysian accusations that it was the Vietnamese that first complained to FIFA.^[34] FIFA Appeal Committee's November 2025 publication reported that all players also believed VFF was the party that filed the complaint against their alleged ineligibility. However, the Committee rendered the assertion to be inaccurate, referring that the complaint lodged with FIFA was not filed by the Vietnamese authority.^[35]

Vietnam's silence, unlike Nepal's active role, has been widely debated, especially in contrast to the fact that most federations in the world would often file protests if discovering irregularities, comparing to the case of Teboho Mokoena during 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification or that of Nelson Cabrera, where both rivalling federations actively filed their protests.^[36][37] Despite multiple denials — both informally by Vietnamese news and formally by FIFA authorities — FIFA's October 2025 notification of the grounds for sanctions against Malaysia revealed that the protest was filed within one day of Malaysia's 4–0 win against Vietnam.^[38] Adding to the confusion, Tunku Ismail claimed that he was informed by AFC about the complaint "was someone from Vietnam, but not from the federation", questioning why FIFA took a report from an "ordinary individual" that seriously.^[39][40]

The scandal also drew attention to the plight of stateless individuals in Malaysian states such as Sabah,^[41] as well as the complex citizenship status of foundlings born in Malaysia and children born to unmarried Malaysian mothers. Critics pointed out the opaque citizenship process in Malaysia, noting that individuals with genuine ties to the country are often denied citizenship. By contrast, citizenship was readily granted to foreigners under questionable circumstances, including this scandal. This raised concerns about the government's misplaced priorities.^[4]

Haresh Deol, currently the deputy president of Malaysia's National Press Club, was assaulted by two men in Kuala Lumpur while another filmed the incident in late December 2025. Deol was one of the first to condemn the use of forged documents to bring in naturalised players and compared it to the 1MDB scandal, raising concerns over the transparency of the investigation and alleged cover-up attempts by FAM.^[42]

• FIFA sanctions Football Association of Malaysia and seven players (archived) - 26 September 2025 announcement on Inside FIFA portal.
  • Notification of the grounds of the Decision (FDD-24394) (archived) - 06 October 2025 publication FIFA Disciplinary Committee's decision.
• FIFA Appeal Committee confirms sanctions against Football Association of Malaysia and seven players (archived) - 03 November 2025 announcement on Inside FIFA portal.
  • Decision of the FIFA Appeal Committee (FDD-25550 & FDD-25566 & FDD-25574) (archived) - 17 November 2025 publication of the FIFA Appeal Committee's decision.

All of the following articles listed below are in Malay language:

• 27 September 2025 FAM media release (archived)
• 07 October 2025 FAM official statement (archived)
• 03 November 2025 FAM official statement (archived)
• 18 November 2025 FAM official statement (archived)
• 6 March 2026 FAM official statement and acknowledgement of CAS decision (archived)

• CAS partly amends sanction against seven players falsely made eligible to play for Malaysia (archived) - 5 March 2026 media release on operative decision.

• AFC Disciplinary and Ethics Committee Meeting on 17 March 2026 (VVC 20260317DC01) (archived) - 17 March 2026 decision to overturn Malaysia's two 2027 AFC Asian Cup qualification matches.